


Thank You For The Venom

by laughingwolves



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-24
Updated: 2013-06-24
Packaged: 2017-12-16 01:49:05
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,745
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/856396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laughingwolves/pseuds/laughingwolves
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>What if the one that got away came back?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thank You For The Venom

_Friday, March 16._

 

‘If you don’t move a little faster we’re probably going to miss our flight.’ Liam stands at the bottom of the stairs looking up at Zayn through the bathroom door.

‘Give me a second!’, Zayn shouts out, pulling his hair back and forth. The taxi waiting for them outside the door honks twice.

‘Zayn, _come on_.’ Liam runs up the stairs and turns the light off, he grabs Zayn by the wrist, pulls him down the stairs and out the door, barely giving him time to pull his jacket from the chair by the entrance.

When they’re finally settled in the cab and on the way to the airport, Liam lets out a sigh and looks over at Zayn.

‘What’s wrong with your hair? It looks fine to me.’

Zayn smirks. But as he does, Liam reaches over and ruffles his hair completely. Zayn doesn’t complain or try to fix it, he looks in the rearview mirror, shrugs, and smiles at Liam.

 

-

 

Liam and Zayn have about 25 minutes to check in their bags, go through security, and get to the gate before the plane they’re to board takes off.

 

Zayn starts to get impatient and cranky about 10 minutes in because he has to take off his jacket, his chains, his shoes and his belt and he’s only had about 4 hours of sleep but Liam doesn’t pay him too much attention because that’s his own fault.

They make it to the gate just as the attendant is making the last call for boarding. Liam leans against the desk and pulls his boarding pass out of his back pocket and slaps it in front of the clerk who looks at them with utter annoyance marked on his face.

He rips the stubs from the tickets, hands them back and waves them away.

The pair waddle their way down the aisle towards the back of the plane and find their seats, they have to move around a bit to get comfortable because Zayn’s legs are so long.  

Liam scoots in to the window seat because Zayn doesn’t like being boxed in, he likes the end seat so Liam gives it up. After about 15 minutes, the plane begins to move away from the building and Liam finally lets all the tension rush from his body.

Not long into the flight Zayn has already fell asleep, his head lolling towards Liam, and his feet stretched out almost into the walkway.

Liam leans his head back and glances over at Zayn, he only meant to look quickly. But he felt himself getting caught up in the way Zayn’s chest rose, shuddered and then fell.

Zayn’s tongue moved around slowly in his mouth, but his eyes did not open. Liam continued to look. Not quite sure why he was so drawn to the boy but not really able to look away. He didn’t take his eyes off of Zayn until he too, fell asleep.

 

-

 

Outside the small window, the plane is over land and it’s the dead of night. The city below them is polluted with light, bold streaks of yellow cuts the land into sections, tiny specks of blue, white, red and green color the yellow canvas of lights.

Liam opens his eyes and yawns quietly, he rubs his eyes and leans forward. He looks to his left for Zayn, but no one is sitting next to him. He panics for a second and then figures he must be in the bathroom.

 

He’s proven right when Zayn comes wandering down the aisle, rubbing his face wearily. Liam’s heart flutters quickly sending him into a flurry of confusion.

 

It’s just relief, Liam thinks to himself. What else could it have been?

 

‘Hey,’ Zayn whispers when he sits. Half the passengers are still sleeping, the others doing various things, like reading, or humming their baby to sleep or eating a midnight snack.

‘Hi,’ Liam looks at his watch. ‘One hour.’

 

-

_Saturday, March 17._

 

Their cab pulls up outside the hotel and Liam mouths a silent ‘wow’ to himself. They exit the car and take their luggage from the trunk, the driver pulls away leaving them on the curb.

 

Liam takes his phone from his back pocket and squints at it. He finds Louis’ number and calls him.

Harry answers after about the fifth ring, laughing and audibly out of breath.

‘Hey, Li. Where are you?’

Liam ignores the panting and answers, ‘We just got the hotel, and... Harry? Hello?’

He looks at the screen to make sure neither of them had hung up, he put it back to his ear just in time to hear Harry laugh out loud then heave.

‘We’re going to go up and relax a bit and then meet you lads for lunch, yea?’

Harry calms down enough to tell him they’ll be ready and that Niall was on his way to the hotel too.

Liam and Zayn check in, get their room keys and take the elevator up to the 7th floor.

‘You can take the bathroom first,’ Zayn offers as he kicks his shoes off and leaves his bags in the waiting area.

‘Are you sure?’

‘Yea, I’m just going to lay here.’

 

Liam shrugs, searches through his bag and leaves to the bathroom after a few minutes.

He emerges from the bathroom 20 minutes later, wearing jeans and a plain black button down.

 

‘The ba....’

 

Liam looks down at the bed where Zayn is laying on his back...without a shirt.

His eyes trail down his stomach to the waist of his jeans, where the band of his boxers peek out. Liam can’t help looking at the trail of hair that flows smoothly out of his boxers.

‘Ye?’

Liam’s eyes snap up to Zayn’s face. He feels his cheeks burn red and he looks away quickly. Making a point of staring into the bathroom and pointing.

‘It’s all yours...’

Zayn smiles, picks up his bag and shuffles past Liam into the bathroom, patting him on the bum before he closes the door behind him.

It’s not the fact that Zayn was just laying half naked on the bed, because it’s not the first time Liam has seen him without a shirt. It’s that Liam got flustered.

Liam walks over to the glass doors, pulls it open and steps out into the sun. He leans against the railing, and hangs his head, letting the warmth of the sun wash over his face.

 

The boys are on spring break vacation, and they’ve been planning to take a trip to Puerto Rico. The previous year, each of them had gotten jobs around town. Zayn and Niall as waiters, Liam fixing cars, Harry working at his father’s office and Louis at the local bookstore.

Liam smiled because they didn’t think they’d be able to do it, but it was happening and he was already excited to see what was to take place over the next week.

 

He opens his eyes and sees Zayn looking at him through the glass, he has his phone tucked between his face and his shoulder. Liam pushes himself away from the rail and steps inside. Zayn’s eyes dart around the room and settles on the bed, he rushes over and takes a pack of cigarettes from the front pocket of his bag, he pushes it into his pocket and looks over at Liam.

‘Ready?’, he mouths.

Liam nods and heads towards the door. Zayn sighs heavily behind him.

‘Yes mama, I’m fine, we’re okay.... Yes. The hotel is nice....no.... no....yes.... Okay. I love you too.’ He drops the phone into his hand and hangs up.

A five minute walk later, Liam and Zayn enter a small restaurant by the beach. Liam spots the couple before Zayn, Harry is sitting next to Louis, but faces him, his arm around Louis’ shoulder and with the other hand he pokes at the half eaten slice of cake. Liam notices all the places that the boys are connected, barely any space in between them.

 

Louis laughs at something Harry is whispering in his ear, but looks up to greet the boys when Zayn clears his throat.

Someone throws his arms around both the boys at that moment, Zayn and Liam turn to see Niall’s blonde hair and dopey grin behind them.

The boys greet each other and talk about their flights and how they like the place so far.

They talk about what they want to do while they wait for their food and when it finally arrives, everyone starts to eat immediately, they hadn’t had much to eat since they left New York the evening before.

Halfway through his meal Liam starts to push his food around his plate, he’s quite lost his appetite because Zayn’s knee is leaning against his, and Zayn’s arm is brushing his every few seconds. But of course Zayn doesn’t notice, why would he, this happens everyday.

That’s why Liam is so confused, he doesn’t know why all of a sudden he’s feeling and noticing these little things.

 

-

 

The group wanders around the city during the afternoon, going in and out of small shops and once even stopping to play soccer along the beach.

‘Harry! Pass me the ball!’ Niall shouted as he ran alongside Harry. The boys had split into two against three. Harry and Niall against Liam, Zayn and Louis. Which Niall voiced was unfair because he was shit at soccer and Harry was only half as good as Louis.

‘No way man.’ Harry’s foot glides around the ball as he maneuvers it around Zayn. Liam laughs when Zayn throws his hands up and walks away from the game.

Harry looks over to Niall who’s patiently waiting and kicks it to him. Niall grins, backs up a few and thrust his foot forward, sending the ball straight towards Liam, and probably into his hands if he wasn’t distracted.

‘Yes!’ Niall runs in a complete circle before tackling Harry and lifting him off his feet.

Harry shrieks when Louis runs over and tickles his sides. They run in Zayn’s direction, kicking sand all around them.

 

They lay out next to him under the palm trees, hiding from the sun.

‘Who’s hungry?’ Niall questions.

‘You _just_ ate, Niall.’ Zayn looks at him and shakes his head.

‘When has that ever stopped me from being hungry?’

Liam snorts and turns and props himself up on his elbows. From where Zayn is laying, Liam can see his eyelashes, sunlight filtering through them and he then notices Zayn’s hand resting comfortably over his knee.

He doesn’t move and he doesn’t say anything, but he thinks about the past couple of months.

He knows for sure now that this isn’t something sudden. It’s been going on for months, he just chose to ignore it.

Liam doesn’t know when he began to like Zayn more than a friend.

Maybe it was the first night he spent alone with Zayn, maybe it was the time he heard Zayn cry over the phone when his grandad had died. Liam doesn’t know, but now he has to do his best not to slip up or say the wrong thing.

He knows it’s going to be hard and he knows it’s going to kill him inside.

  
  


_Sunday, March 18_.

 

Liam wakes up in the middle of the night. He gets out of bed quietly and goes to the kitchen to get a cup of water. He happens to glance outside and sees that it’s raining.

He hopes it clears up by the morning and goes back to the room. On the other side of the room he can hear Zayn breathing softly. Liam sits on the edge of his bed and finishes the glass of water. Only moments later, he’s falling asleep, his own breathing in time with Zayn’s.

 

Liams hopes are shot down when he wakes up at 10 and he can hear the rain pouring outside. He groans and turns in bed. He doesn’t want to get up now.

But the smell of coffee wafting through the door prompts him to venture out into the living room, where he’s greeted with something that makes his breath catch and his head spin.

 

Zayn sits on a stool, with a cup of coffee in his hand, and his finger running down the screen of his phone. Liam notices the beanie on his head and tufts of hair peeking out of the back and the sides.

‘I like your shirt...’ Liam says as he walks past and pours himself a cup.

He isn't surprised because Zayn never packs more than an overnight bag even if he's going somewhere for more than a week. As long as the other boys are there he worries about nothing, he just nicks their clothes the entire time. One day he'll be wearing Louis' hoodie and another he'll squeeze himself into Niall's jeans. Liam wonders sometimes if Zayn takes their underwear too. 

Zayn smiles widely and turns on the stool to face him.

‘Yea, it was just laying on the floor so I took it.’

Liam had been looking for the shirt when he was packing and now he knows where it went. He didn’t have a problem with it though because Zayn never took his clothes, because he has enough to clothe a small village.

 

Zayn looks at Liam over the rim of his mug.

‘Did you want to do anything today? Harry and Louis are staying in. And uh. Niall is already gone somewhere with a girl he met last night.’

Liam lifts a brow and shrugs. Then Zayn shakes his head.

‘No, I don’t want to get out in the rain. Let’s watch a movie.’

‘We don’t have any movies. There’s a theatre somewhere around here though.’

Zayn waggles his eyebrows and bites his bottom lip -not a good idea. Liam chokes on the coffee and burns himself in the process.

Liam pulls his shirt away from his body and Zayn laughs out loud.

‘Shut up!’

Zayn looks over at Harry and Louis’ locked door and slaps his hand over his mouth. Liam hears stifled giggles behind him as he turns around to get a rag to wipe up the mess he made.

‘Are you alright mate?’ Zayn questions with a grin. Liam makes a face at him and tells him to be ready in twenty minutes.

 

-

 

The boys run into the theatre and shake the water off their jackets. Zayn buys the tickets and they find their way inside.

Liam looks around and asks Zayn where he wants to sit.

Zayn points to the back and they hurry to the top on the auditorium and settle in. The movie starts just then and it goes completely dark.

Liam feels Zayn moving about next to him, right before he leans into Liam’s side.

He swallows thickly and tries to focus on the movie and not the fact that he can hear Zayn breathing, or that he can feel Zayn’s warmth on his arm.

Liam thinks the movie is dull, predictable and cheesy. But he stays because Zayn seems to be pretty invested in the relationship of the main characters.

But he finds himself falling asleep so he looks over at Zayn -who is already looking at him- and asks him if he wants to go.

  
  
  
  


_Monday, March 19 - Thursday, March 22._

 

The week goes by way faster than expected. Liam can hardly remember everything that happened. But there were a few things that stuck in his head.

_‘I’m going to be getting naked during this game. If anyone even thinks we’re playing Strip Me poker and no one is taking clothes off, you’re all bloody mad.’ Louis smirks at Harry._

_Liam doesn’t even understand why Niall would suggest such a game with Harry and Louis in the same room._

_Thirty minutes later, Liam is sitting crossed legged, barefoot and shirtless. Louis kept his word and was kneeling across from Liam with nothing but his boxers on. Niall was still clothed. Zayn was missing a shoe and Harry’s shirt was somewhere across the room because Zayn had ripped it off when he realized Harry was trying to cheat._

If Liam had known what was to happen over the next few days he would have held on tighter to the moments where they all had smiles on their faces and not one of them could have predicted experiencing anything worse than Harry running across the room completely nude.   
  
  



End file.
